School

During their first four years, students need only to pass each subject before advancing to the next level the following year. If students fail in their year, they need to repeat it in the following school year. To qualify as a registered practitioner of magic, students must study for the compulsory Ordinary Wizarding Level (O.W.L.) examinations taken at the end of the fifth year. If a student scores well enough on an O.W.L., he or she may take advanced classes in that subject for the final two years in preparation for the Nastily Exhausting Wizarding Tests (N.E.W.T.), an in-depth examination given at the end of the seventh year. A UK student generally takes only three or four A-Level subjects and exams, just as a typical Hogwarts student takes only a few N.E.W.T.-level subjects.

Most O.W.L.s consist of two parts, a written theoretical test and a practical demonstration of skills before the examiners. Subjects are graded on the following scale:

Passing Grades

• O = Outstanding
• E = Exceeds Expectations
• A = Acceptable

Failing Grades

• P = Poor
• D = Dreadful
• T = Troll

The O.W.L. roughly corresponds to the General Certificate of Education GCSE (formerly the O-Level), and the N.E.W.T. to the A-level or IB examinations used in the English, Welsh and Northern Ireland secondary school system. To proceed to a N.E.W.T., a student usually needs to have achieved at least an E in the O.W.L. of the same subject, although some professors such as Professor Snape insist upon a grade of O. Students who fail in their exams or who do not achieve high enough grades do not continue with the subject in their sixth and seventh years.

At the end of their fifth year, students speak briefly with their head of house to decide which classes to continue in depending on their O.W.L. scores and their goals after school. The classes they decide to continue are considerably more advanced. Because they dropped one or more classes, students in their sixth and seventh year may get several class sessions off per week. The heavy workload that each class requires means that students usually spend these times studying and doing homework. At the end of their seventh and final year, students take the N.E.W.T. exams, which test what the student has learned over the past two years. Many professions require high grades in these tests, meaning that students must work hard to ensure that they pass.

Muggle British high schools do not have graduation ceremonies or award diplomas. Students may leave when they have reached age 16, though most stay on long enough to take the tests they need for jobs or entrance to university. Hogwarts follows this model.